Written by the authors of "Dominican Republic (Other Places Travel Guide)" for the culturally savvy traveler.

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Dominican Music: Merengue and Bachata

Rinconcito: Sunday night dancing in la Zona Colonial

A combination of traditional, European, and African music and dance, merengue
and bachata grew up in the countryside of the Dominican Republic. Though heavily
European-influenced music dominated the popular music scene throughout the late
19th and early 20th century, Dominican musicians began to incorporate the
countryside’s staccato and organic rhythms such as zapateo, sarambo, and
mangulina. When European immigrants brought the accordion in 1870, merengue
started to rise from the heady fusion that had been simmering.

Merengue hit the big stage in the early 1900s, as it started to become
accepted by the Dominican upper classes, especially after Trujillo decided to
use merengue in his campaigns. Merengue legends include Toño Rosario & Los
Hermanos Rosario, Sergio Vargas, and Johnny Ventura – all of which are part of
the “Golden Years” of merengue in the 1980s.

Breaking down a merengue classic

Developed during the early 20th century, bachata was not embraced by
Trujillo or the wealthy and was not even recorded until 1961. With rural
influences both lyrically and musically, bachata continued to be looked down
upon by the mainstream until the 1980s when established artists – such as Luis
Segura, El Chivo Sin Ley (Ramoncito Cabrera), and Antonio Gómez Salcero – were
able to reach larger audiences.

Showing those drums no mercy

Grammy-award winning Juan Luis Guerra was the first to sneak bachata
into the musical repertoire of the upper-middle class with his smooth renditions
sometimes confused for merengue. Aventura, a New York-based pop bachata
sensation, catapulted bachata onto the iPods and into the hearts of fans across
the world by performing across the US. Other popular bachata artists include
Anthony Santos, Zacarias Ferreira, and Frank Reyes.